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Catherine (Bertling) Weber
Catherine Bertling (Nov 25, 1875 - March 27, 1963) was born in November 25, 1875 to Nicholas Bertling and Anna Scheller in Röhl, Germany. She immigrated to America aboard the "Maas", arriving on May 17, 1878, traveling in the Steerage compartment from Rotterdam to America. She married Peter Weber on February 8, 1899 at Sacred Heart church at Fillmore, Iowa. Together they had eight children: Barbara, Margaret, Irene, Willie, Hilda, Rosalyn, Rita, and Leona. She died Wednesday, March 27, 1963. Obituary CASCADE, Ia. - Mrs. Catherine A. Weber, 88, died Wednesday morning at Monticello, Ia. Friends may call Thursday at the Till-Didesch Funeral Home, Cascade. Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Mary's Church. Burial will be in St. Mary's Cemetery. Surviving are seven daughters: Miss Hilda Weber, at home; Mrs. George Kurt, Cascade; Mrs. Al Hosch, Monticello; Mrs. Raymond Strang, Walker, Ia.; Mrs. Harry Jackson, Breeze Wood, Pa., Mrs. James Masterson, Williamsburg, Ia.; Mrs. Roy Swanson, Anderson, Ind.; one step-son, T. S. Weber, Raymond, Ia.; three step-daughters, Mrs. Matt Schmitz, Jefferson, S. D., Mrs. Otto Streff, Canby, Minn.; Mrs. John Knapp, Sr., Cascade; sixty-seven grandchildren; a number of great and great-great grandchildren; one sister, Mrs. Pete Reiter, and two brothers, Nick and William Bertling all of Cascade. Sources The 1900 Census records her name as Katrina and her immigration year as 1876; the 1910 Census records her name as Kate and her immigration year as 1879 - it also records her birth year as 1877. The 1920 Census gives name as Kathrine and her birth year as 1876. The 1930 Census gives her name as Catherine, her birthyear as 1875, and her immigration year as 1890. Bertling Ancestry Notes (These people are not given their own page, as they are not related to Francis and Patricia Weber - the subjects of this Wiki.) From the Bertling family history told by Nicholas' daughter, Lena Bertling Reiter in April 1974 'Nicholas Bertling' Nicholas Bertling (April 13, 1843 - May 28, 1929) was born April 13, 1843 ((Or March 11?)) to Peter Bertling and Catherine Ewen (see below) in Rohl Kreis (Röhl), Bitburg, Germany. He was a linen weaver by trade in Germany. His name was alternatively spelled Berthling, but the "h" was dropped when they got to America (though the "h" is also not present in the Röhl church record - but this may be because it is written in Latin - the "h" is present in the passenger log of the SS Maas). Nicholas served in the Prussian-Austrian wars in 1866 and also in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. Besides playing the accordion, he was also a drummer and his drum was used to signal when the troops should move. The soldiers carried a bread basket with them filled with food called "zwieback". During one battle, Nicholas had his bread basket shot from his hip. The soldiers were often hungry and during one march in France they came upon a village with a store that had a pile of eggs stacked nearby. The owner did not want to give up the eggs so Nicholas, who spoke French, took out his sword, waved it above his head and spoke some things in French and convinced the store keeper to part with the eggs. Nicholas lost much of his hearing during the wars because of the noise from the cannons. Nicholas married Anna Scheller in 1872 in Germany. They had three children: Simon (Sam), Katherine, and Nicholas who were born in Germany. After his father died, his mother lived with the family. Military service was compulsory in Germany for a male of 21 years old so when Nicholas's mother died on January 10, 1878, he moved the family to America so that his two sons could avoid spending so much time in the military as he had. They arrived in America aboard the "Maas" on May 17, 1878, traveling in the Steerage compartment from Rotterdam to America. and lived in a small house near Centralia, Dubuque County, Iowa. Five more children were born in Iowa, Stephen, William, Margaret, Annie, and Caroline (Lena). In Iowa, Nicholas used to go from place to place helping neighbors thresh grain for 75 cents a day. He would also walk to Dubuque to sell butter and eggs. He made baskets out of willow branches that he would cut in the spring. Nicholas also took care of large orchards, harvesting apples, plums, cherries, mulberries, gooseberries, grapes, raspberries, strawberries, currents, walnuts, and rhubarb. He was also a beekeeper and had large swarms of bees from which he got honey to sell. His daughter, Lena, remembers one time when she was out of town and her friend had come over to keep house in her absence. She was outside when she heard a large swarm of bees buzzing around. She ran in the house and told Nicholas that the bees were going crazy. He threw down the paper and rushed to take a look. Realizing the bees were not one of his swarms, he took an empty hive and placed it near where they had gathered in a big clump on a branch of a tree. Nicholas stuck his hand in the middle of the bees, found the queen, clipped her wings, and placed her in the hive. He then shook the branch and the rest of the bees flew to the hive where their queen was placed. Nicholas did this on several occasions in order to capture new swarms of bees. In 1890, they moved to a farm west of Worthington, Iowa owned by Theodore Burlage and attended St. Paul's church in Worthington. They lived there about five years, and then in 1895, bought a farm near Fillmore, Iowa in Whitewater Township. They attended Sacred Heart church in Fillmore and there is a stained galss window in the church that was donated by the Nicholas Bertling family. The Bertlings made all their own soap. After butchering, they would use the lye and cracklings and fry out the lard and use the remaining cracklings and grease to make soap. THey also had two wooden barrels filled with wood ashes and soaked down with rain water. Two holes were bored in the bottom and the drippings were caught in the pan underneath. As the water ran through the wood ashes, the liquid of lye was formed. Nicholas liked to give a loud whistle to call the family in from the fields. He would stick his fingers in his mouth and his whistle could be heard all over the farm. One day, shortly before World War I, a peddler came to the Bertling home. Lena looked at his goods but did not buy anything and sent him on his way. Nicholas saw the man walking down the road about 3/4 of a mile away and asked what he was doing. Lena said he was going into the war and was selling out his goods. Being a former military man, Nicholas had a soft spot in his heart for the man. He whistled loudly and when the man turned, Nicholas motioned him back to the house. They bought some beautiful lace table cloths and some embroidery from the peddler. Nicholas Bertling died on May 28, 1929 in Cascade, Iowa at the age of 86. He is buried in Sacred Heart Cemetery in Fillmore, Iowa. 'Anna (Scheller) Bertling' Anna Scheller (May 24, 1843 - Feb 26, 1913) was born May 24, 1843 to Adam and Kathryn Scheller in Stienborn, Germany (it is not clear which one, as she doesn't seem to appear in the church records). Kathryn died when Anna was 6 months old. Anna had one older brother and after her father remarried, she also had two step-sisters. After her mother died, Anna lived with her grandmother and her two aunts. One day when her grandmother was sick she went to her room to see her. Her grandmother asked what her aunts were doing and she said they were knitting black stockings. Tradition in Germany at the time was for the women to wear black stockings only after someone had died. Her aunts were very angry with Anna because her grandmother thought they were preparing for HER death. When Anna was about 12 years old, she worked for a store keeper, working in his house as well as the store and stayed in the store keeper's house. He kept his money hidden under Anna's mattress and when she found this out she refused to sleep on the mattress. He moved the money to the cellar. One day the house caught fire and he had to run to the cellar to rescue his money. One Good Friday, Anna baked bread and someone told her, "Ah, you are baking bread on Good Friday. You will have a corpse in your home next year, Good Friday." The next year one of Nicholas's brothers came to visit on Good Friday and he died there. Anna never baked bread on that day again. Anna liked to spin yarn on the spinning wheel. She would use freshly shorn wool while the oil was still on it as it would cling together better. She would spin a fine strand and then twist two strands together, make a skein, wash it, then roll it into a ball and leave it white. They knitted their own woolen stockings and mittens for winter. In 1878, when the family came to America, Anna was advised to leave all her woolens and linens behind because they said in America only cotton was used. She was sad that she took this advice. When they arrived in New York, many of the children were running around the harbor barefoot. Anna begged to go back to Germany because she thought the children looked so poor. She could not speak English at the time and said if she could, she would have walked the whole way back to Germany, she was so lonesome. The following story was quoted from Lena, Anna's daughter in April 1978: "I remember very well in 1913 when my mother was dying. I could see there were large drops of cold sweat on her forehead. I wiped them off and she told em to tell father to come in from outside. He and my brothers, Nick and Willie, and my sister, Kate, were there. Kate had her youngest, Roselyn, with her too. So Kate and I started praying the last seven words of our Savior on the cross when He was dying. Both of us knew it by heart in German. Mother also helped pray and when we finished that, mother started this prayer in German: : Soul of Chirst, sanctify me. Body of Christ save me. : Water from the side of Christ, wash me. : Passion of Christ, strengthen me. :: Oh good Jesus hear me. :: Within Thy wounds hide me. : Permit me not to be separated from Thee. : From the malignant enemy defend me. : In the hour of my death call me. :: And bid me come to Thee :: That with Thy saints I may praise Thee : For all eternity. Amen. When she finished, she was gone, but conscious to the end. The priest, a Father Hemesath in the Centralia church, had been with mother the week before. At this time, when we called him, he was in school and then he had to hitch up the horses to his buggy, as there were very few cars then, so he was late and mother had died." Anna Scheller died near Fillmore, Iowa on February 26, 1913 at the age of 69 years, nine months and two days. She is buried in Sacred Heart Church cemetery in Fillmore. 'Peter Bertling' Peter Bertling (Unknown - Unknown) married Catherine Ewen. They lived in Röhl, Germany, where they had at least ten children: Catherine - Nov 14, 1834, Röhl Ludovicus - March 29, 1836, Röhl Ludovicus - Dec 12, 1837, Röhl Matthias - Oct 20, 1839, Röhl (mother recorded as Catherine Endres) Fried. Wilhelm - Oct 23, 1841, Röhl (mother recorded as Catherine Unknown) Nicolas - April 13, 1843, Röhl Jacobus - Dec 4, 1846, Röhl Angela - June 4, 1848, Röhl Theodore - March 23, 1851, Röhl Anne Marie - Jan 21, 1853, Röhl Category:Peter and Catherine Weber Family